The Mercenaries' Plight

Just as Huo Hai had expected, plenty of people appeared along the way, intent on ambushing him. Wealth truly did stir men's hearts. A vast quantity of spirit stones was indeed immensely tempting to mercenaries and adventurers.

Although this amount of spirit stones meant little to Huo Hai now, he could not simply disregard it. But to mercenaries—or rather, the overwhelming majority of them—it was an astronomical sum. If they succeeded, it would be enough to last them several lifetimes. How could such an enormous fortune fail to tempt them?

Even somewhere as dangerous as Mijia Mountain could not stop these mercenaries in their tracks. Fortunately, narrowing the search area had strengthened the Star Gu's scouting capabilities. Using numbers to compensate for their lack of intelligence really did work.

Whenever the Star Gu discovered enemies, Huo Hai attacked without caring who they were. Their appearance alone made it clear that they were mercenaries. This time, he had no intention whatsoever of destroying the bodies and erasing the evidence.

Had he remained undiscovered, that would have been one thing. But now that he had been exposed to everyone, he might as well display his strength. Even with nothing but these terrifying insects, he believed few in the Southern Cloud Kingdom aside from the Four Great Families and the Imperial Family would dare disregard him. Demonstrating overwhelming force would be a great help in his future endeavors.

"Heh, so you died here. People really do die for wealth." Huo Hai looked at a corpse on the ground, unsure when it had appeared there. It had clearly been killed by a Spiral-Pattern Deer.

On Mijia Mountain, only the antlers of a Spiral-Pattern Deer could have inflicted the wounds on that corpse. There were even several more bodies not far away. Apparently, these people